Address retrieval systems and methods

ABSTRACT

An address retrieval system that retrieves the physical address of a user based on a request from another user. The address retrieval system can be connected to a network, such as a cellphone network, to allow a user to submit a request containing personally identifiable information, such as a phone number, of another user and the address retrieval system can locate/retrieve the requested address information and return the information to the requesting user or a third party. The release of the address information can be managed by a user-configurable privacy policy that provides rules, permissions and/or other management regarding the release of the user&#39;s address information.

BACKGROUND

In the current digital age, more and more interpersonal communicationsare performed in the electronic rather than the physical realm. In yearspast, people wanted to know another person's home phone number and/orthe person's physical address so they could correspond with one another.Now, a person's cellphone number and email address are two pieces ofpersonal information often used for interpersonal communication. Knowinga person's cellphone number, email address and/or other electronicidentities are valuable knowledge when someone wishes to communicatewith another electronically. However, when a person wishes to send aphysical item to another, the person may find themselves at a loss for aphysical address to which to send the item. A person wishing to send aphysical item to another can contact the other person for an address;however, it can take time for the other person to respond to the requestand/or can ruin a surprise someone is planning, such as sending a gift.Since many people know the electronic contact information of the othersto whom they wish to send items, such as business contacts, friends andfamily, it would be helpful if there were systems and/or methods inwhich a user could more easily facilitate sending items.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example interaction with an address retrievalsystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example address retrieval system.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method of an address retrieval.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of permitting an address retrieval.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method of requesting an address.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein are systems and methods for retrieving a physicaladdress of a user of/on a network, such as a cellular telephone network,in response to a received request from another user of the same oranother network. The requesting user may wish to send a physical item tothe user, an addressee, however, the requester may not have an addressfor the addressee. The requester can request the addressee of the userusing the systems and/or methods described to retrieve a physicaladdress of the addressee so that the physical item may be properlyaddressed. The requester and addressee can be members/subscribers of thesame network, such as subscribers of the same cellular network/provider.Alternatively, the requester and the addressee may be members ofdifferent networks, such as different cellphone providers. To allow therequester to retrieve an address of the addressee, the address retrievalsystems and/or methods can include a relationship between the twonetworks to allow the request of one network to be fulfilled by anothernetwork.

One or more privacy policies are applied in response to the request andcan provide rules, permission, or otherwise manage the release of theaddress information, including preventing/denying the release of theaddress information. The privacy policy is auser-configurable/customizable set of permissions/rules that the usercan edit, modify, and/or apply to manage the release of their addressinformation using the address retrieval systems and/or methods. Theprivacy policy(s) can be stored in, or accessible to, the addressretrieval system, such as in a database(s) of the address retrievalsystem or a database(s) accessible to the address retrieval system. Auser can interact with a user device, such as a cellphone, tablet, orcomputer, to configure or apply their privacy policy regarding therelease of their address information. Additionally, the addressretrieval systems and/or methods can include a default privacy policythat is applied to users who have not configured or applied a privacypolicy. The default privacy can provide a high level ofprivacy/security, such as denying release of the user's addressinformation, so that the user's privacy is maintained without the user'sintervention.

The requesting user, a requester, can generate a request for thephysical address of another user, who is the addressee. The request canbe generated by the requester by interacting with a user device, such asa cellphone, tablet, or other device capable of communicating with anaddress retrieval system of a network associated with the user device.The requester can also interact with the address retrieval systemthrough a webpage/portal that can communicate with the address retrievalsystem. The requester can include at least a piece of personallyidentifiable information associated with the addresses. The personallyidentifiable information can be in the possession of and/or accessibleby the requester for inclusion in the request. Example personallyidentifiable information can include a phone number, email address,social media username, name, or other substantially unique informationassociated with the addressee. The address retrieval system can receiveand process the request. A query can be generated by the addressretrieval system and can include the necessary information forretrieving the addressee's physical address from a network node. Thequery can also include various permissions and/or features that assistthe network node in interpreting and/or processing the query, such asapplying a privacy policy associated with the user/addressee of theaddress information be requested. The network node can includeinformation associated with the addressee, including a physical addressand one or more pieces of personally identifiable information. Thenetwork node can use the personally identifiable information of thequery to retrieve the physical address information of the associateduser, the addressee. The retrieved address information can then betransmitted back to the requester or to another party, such as a thirdparty designated by the requester, like a shipping service and/ormerchant.

The addressee can have one or more associated privacy policies that theaddressee can configure to establish various limits, permissions and/ormanagement regarding the release/transmission of the addressee'sphysical address information by the address retrieval system. Theprivacy policy can be implemented/applied by the address retrievalsystem to one or more of the query or the transmission of the physicaladdress information. Using the privacy policy, the addressee can beprovided tools to allow the addressee to limit/restrict the release ofphysical address information, which can be a security/privacy concern ofthe addressee and/or other users of the network which the addressretrieval system is on or accessible by. Additionally, the privacypolicy can be configured to cause a notification to be sent to theaddressee, such as to a user device associated with the addressee, whena request for the addressee's physical address information is receivedand/or during processing of such a request.

In an example, the privacy policy of the addressee can be configured torequire that the addressee provide permission for each release of theiraddress information, such as by responding to a notification of theaddress retrieval request. In another example, the addressee canconfigure the privacy policy to require that the addressee and requesterbe mutual contacts, which can cause the address retrieval system toquery the contacts associated with both the addressee and the requesterto determine if they are mutual contacts. In yet another example, theaddressee can configure the privacy policy to restrict transmission ofthe addressee's address information to only third parties, such as anonline merchant or shipping service. This restriction can prevent therequester from receiving/viewing the addressee's information, whilestill allowing the requester to have an item shipped to the addressee.

In some situations, the requester and the addressee may be users ofdifferent networks, such as users of different cellphonenetworks/providers. The query, based on the request, can be structuredor can include a feature(s), such as permissions/encoding, to allow thequery of a user of one network to retrieve the address informationassociated with a user of another network. The privacy policy associatedwith the addressee can be on the requester's network or can be retrievedfrom the network associated with the addressee. Alternatively, a centralrepository/database of various users and their associated privacypolicy(s) can be accessible to the address retrieval system to allow theaddress retrieval system to implement the appropriate privacy policy foreach request.

Alternatively, or additionally, the privacy policy(s) of a user can bestored on an associated user device of the user and the addressretrieval system can query/communicate with the user device to receivethe appropriate privacy policy. A default action, such as a denial ofrelease of the address information, can be applied by the addressretrieval system when the system fails to, or experiences errors in, theretrieval of the privacy policy from the user device. In anotherembodiment, a user's privacy policy(s) can be duplicated or distributedacross one or more locations accessible by the address retrieval system,such as a database of the address retrieval system, a database on anetwork accessible to the address retrieval system, a user deviceaccessible to the address retrieval system, and/or other systems,devices and/or locations accessible to the address retrieval system.

The retrieved address information can be provided/transmitted to one ormore third parties, such as a shipping service or merchant. The thirdparty can be engaged by the requester to send an item to the addresseeand the requester can use the address retrieval system to retrieve thenecessary address information of the addressee. As part of the request,the requester can designate a third party to receive the retrievedaddress information. In another embodiment, the third party cangenerate/communicate the request on behalf of the requester, such asduring the checkout process of an online merchant that the requesterengages to send the purchased item to the addressee. In anotherembodiment, the privacy policy associated with the addressee canlimit/restrict the recipient(s) of the retrieved address information toa third party, which can prevent the requester from actuallyviewing/receiving the address information of the addressee or anyportion thereof.

The various address retrieval systems and/or methods include variousconfigurable settings to deny, limit/restrict, and/or allow the addressinformation provided by the address retrieval systems and methods and/orthe recipients allowed to receive the address information from theaddress retrieval systems and/or methods.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example interaction 100 with an address retrievalsystem. The interaction 100 includes a network 110 having the addressretrieval system 112, a requester 120 that uses a user device 122 torequest an address 124, an addressee 130 having a privacy policy 132regarding the release of their address information, and optionally, athird party 140 that can receive the address of the addressee 130. Therequester 120 can provide the request 124, containing informationregarding the addressee 130, to the address retrieval system 112. Therequest 124 can contain identifying information regarding the addressee130, such as their cellular or other phone number. The address retrievalsystem 112 can then provide the requested address information, based onthe privacy policy 132 of the addressee 130, back to the requester 120or to a third party 140.

The network 110 can be a network accessible by the requester 120 throughtheir user device 122, such as a cellular telephone network. Such anetwork 110 can contain information regarding multiple users, includinga telephone number and physical address associated with each user of thenetwork. The address retrieval system 112 can access this information toretrieve an address associated with a user and can return that addressto the requester 120, a third party 140, or not, in accordance with theprivacy policy 132 of the addressee 130.

In an example, the network 110 can be a cellular telephone network, suchas the network of a carrier, and the requester 120 and/or addressee 130can be users of the network 110. As users of the network 110, thenetwork has various information associated with each and thatinformation can be accessible to the address retrieval system 112.Alternatively, or additionally, the network 110 can include a networknode or other network feature, element and/or system that is accessibleby, and/or integrated with, the address retrieval system 112 to retrieveaddress information associated with the addressee 130. This network nodecan be populated with some or all of the addressee 130 informationcontained on, by, and/or accessible to the network 110, such as aphysical address of the addressee 130 and a piece of personallyidentifiable information, such as a telephone number.

In another embodiment, the requester 120 and addressee 130 may be on, ormembers of, different networks, such as different cellularproviders/carriers 116. The address retrieval system 112 of therequester's network 110 can contact, or query, the other network 116 toreceive the address information of the addressee 130, who is a memberof, or is on, the other network 116. Various interfaces, hardware and/orsoftware, such as existing inter-network interfaces, can be used toallow the network 110 to communicate with and/or receive informationfrom the other network 116. In another example, addressee/userinformation of/on other network 116 can be stored on a node/database ofnetwork 110, such as discussed above, or can be on a network nodeaccessible to the address retrieval system 112. In this way, the addressretrieval system 112 can access and retrieve the address of an addresseeregardless of the network of which the addressee is a member, or isconnected.

To request an address, the requester 120 can interact with a user device122 to create and/or transmit an address request 124. An application orother interface, such as a website, on or accessible to the user device122 can be used to generate/transmit the address request 124. In anexample, the user device 122 can be a mobile device, such as atelephone, on which the requester 120 has various contact informationstored. Example contact information can include a phone number, a name,social media identification, email, and/or other informationof/regarding the various contacts of the user device 122. To prepare theaddress request 124, the requester 120 can select a piece of userinformation they have, such as contact information, regarding theaddressee 130 for which they are seeking to retrieve addressinformation. This information regarding the addressee 130, such as aphone number of the addressee, can be included in the address request124 and can be used by the address retrieval system 112 to retrieve,identify and/or locate the physical address information of the addresseefor which the request 124 has been submitted. Once the address retrievalsystem 112 has retrieved the physical address information of theaddressee 130 based on the request 124, the address retrieval system 112can transmit/provide that information to the requester 120, such asthrough the user device 122, and/or can provide the information to athird party 140.

In an example, the requester 120 may wish to send a physical item to theaddressee 130, but they may lack a physical address to which to send theitem. The requester 120 can then submit an address request 124 to theaddress retrieval system 112 to receive a physical addressfor/associated with the addressee 130. The requester can then use theretrieved address to properly address the item to the addressee 130.

In another example, the address request 124 can be part of/included inthe checkout process of purchasing the item, such as the checkoutprocess of an online store. As part of the checkout process, therequester 120 can generate/transmit an address request 124, such asthrough the actual checkout process of the online retailer, a separateprocess on the user device 122, or through another process/interface.The requester 120 can then receive the physical address information ofthe addressee 130 from the address retrieval system 112 and can thenprovide the physical address information to the online retailer as anaddress to which the purchase is to be shipped. In another embodiment,the address retrieval system 112 can provide the physical addressinformation directly to the online retailer, an example third party 140,and/or their shipping service/partner. In this manner, the requester 120does not actually need, and may be prevented from viewing/receiving, thephysical address information of the addressee 130.

The addressee 130 can set up/configure a privacy policy 132 thatprovides rules/limitations on the release of their address informationby the address retrieval system 112. The privacy policy 132 can have oneor more options to allow the addressee 130 to govern the release oftheir information by the address retrieval system 112. In an example,the privacy policy 132 can require that the address retrieval system 112to inform the addressee 130 about an address request 124 and can alsoallow the addressee 130 to optionally require that the addressee 130give permission before the address information is released to therequester 120 and/or a third party 140.

The privacy policy 132 of the addressee 130 can be stored on the network110 and/or the address retrieval system 112. Each time the addressee'sphysical address is requested, the address retrieval system 112 canaccess the privacy policy 132 of the addressee 130 to determine if/howto release the requested address information. In an embodiment, theprivacy policy 132 can be part of a user profile of the addressee 130 onthe network 110 and/or can modify the user profile, or other physicaladdress containing record, of the addressee so as to obscurefrom/prevent the address retrieval system 112 from retrieving theaddress information of the addressee 130. In embodiments in which theaddressee information is stored at/on a location other than the network110, the privacy policy 132 can be accessed and/or applied to theaddressee's 130 information to manage the release of such information.

The address retrieval system 112 can include a privacy policy database114 that can store privacy policy(s) 132 associated with one or moreaddressees 130. The address retrieval system 112 can retrieve anappropriate privacy policy from the privacy policy database 114 based onthe address request 124. In another example, the privacy policy(s) 132of the addressee 130 can be stored in another location(s) accessible bythe address retrieval system 112, such as a database of the network 110or 116, on a user device of the addressee 130 and/or otherdatabase/storage accessible to/by the address retrieval system 112.

One or more third parties 140 can receive the addressee's 130 physicaladdress information from the network 110/address retrieval system 112.As discussed, an instruction to send the retrieved address informationto a third party 140 can be included in the address request 124.Alternatively, as part of the privacy policy 132, the addressee 130 canprovide permission that their information is allowed to be shared with athird party 140 in response to an address request 124. In such anexample, the privacy policy 132 can allow the address information toalso be sent to the requester 120 or can specify that the addressinformation is not allowed to be provided to a requester 120, but ratheronly to a third party 140 so as to prevent the requester 120 fromactually receiving the address information of the addressee 130.

In an example, the requester 120 may wish to send a package to a friend,the addressee 130 and the requester 120 can lack the necessary addressinformation to address the package properly. To send the package, therequester 120 can contract a shipping provider 142 and the requester 120can request 124 the addressee's 130 address information from/using theaddress retrieval system 112. As part of the request 124 and/or theprivacy policy 132 of the addressee 130, the retrieved addressinformation can be provided directly to the shipping provider 142 by theaddress retrieval system 112, while the requester 120 does notreceive/view the retrieved address information. In this example, thereis no need of the requester 120 to have/view the retrieved addressinformation since the only party that requires the information is theshipping provider 142 so that they may properly address and/orship/deliver the package. In this manner the addressee's 130 addressinformation is maintained as private and restricted to only the party(s)who require the information.

In another example, a business may wish to send a package/item to anaddressee 130, such as for purposes of the business or at the request ofanother person, like a gift purchased for the addressee 130 from thebusiness. The business can request an address of the addressee 130 usingthe address retrieval system 112. The addressee's 130 privacy policy 132can allow the release of address information to businesses, such asbased on an assumption by the addressee 130 that a request for addressinformation from a business is legitimate and does not violate theprivacy and/or endanger the security of the addressee 130. The addressretrieval system 112 can provide the business the addressee's 130address information, in accordance with the privacy policy 132, allowingthe business to properly address and/or send the package to theaddressee 130. Additionally, as part of the privacy policy 132, theaddressee 130 can require an input regarding the nature of the item tobe sent to the addressee 130, such as advertisement material, a giftand/or other categories/classifications of the item. The addressee 130can configure the privacy policy 132 to restrict the retrieval ortransmission of the address information based on thecategorization/classification of the item to be sent, such as to preventunwanted advertisement materials from being sent to the addressee 130 bydenying access to the address information by parties intending to sendsuch materials.

Example third parties 140 can include shipping providers/services 142,merchants 146 and/or other parties that a requester 120 might engage tosend a physical item to the addressee 130. In an example, the requester120 can engage a shipping provider 142, such as a home delivery service,to send an item to the addressee 130. To properly address the item, theshipping provider 142 will require the physical address of the addressee130. The requester 120 can send an address request 124 to the addressretrieval system 112 to either receive the address of the addressee 130and/or have the address retrieval system 112/network 110 provide theaddress to the shipping provider 142. As part of their service, theshipping provider 142 may provide tracking 144 of the shipment. Thetracking information 144 for the shipment/delivery can be provided tothe requester 120 and/or the addressee 130. As part of the privacypolicy 132, the release of the tracking information 144 to the requester120 may be optionally controlled/configured by the addressee 130.

Similarly, a requester 120 can make a purchase from a merchant 146 andrequest that the purchase be sent to the addressee 130 for whom they donot have complete and/or proper address information. As part of themerchant's 146 checkout process or as an interface between the addressretrieval system 112 and the merchant 146, the requester 120 cantransmit an address request 124 to retrieve address information for theaddressee 130. The retrieved address information can be provided to themerchant 146 to complete the required address information to have thepurchase delivered to the addressee 130. Additionally, the merchant 146can provide tracking information 148 to allow the delivery to betracked. The privacy policy 132 of the addressee 130 can govern therelease of the tracking information 148 to the requester 120, either inits entirety or some portion thereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example address retrieval system 200 that includesa request module 210, a query module 220, a privacy module 230, anetwork node 240, and, optionally, address routing 250. The variousfeatures and/or processes described with respect to each of the elementsof the address retrieval system 200 can be included in, performed by,integrated within and/or distributed amongst one or more elements of theaddress retrieval system 200. The address retrieval system 200receives/processes a request for an address and then provides theaddress, if permitted, to a requester of the address or another party.The address information can be stored on a network/network node 240 of,or in communication with, the address retrieval system 200. To preventmisuse and/or unwanted distribution of address information, the privacymodule 230 can apply/consult one or more privacy policies to determinethe rules and/or conditions for release of the addressee's information.Once retrieved, the address can be transmitted to the requester and/oranother party based on the address routing 250.

The request module 210 receives an incoming request for addressinformation from a requester. The incoming request can be received froma user device of the requester and/or through another portal/interfacein communication with the address retrieval system 200. In an example,the request can be received from another system, such as a merchant orshipping service engaged by the requester to send a physical item to anaddressee for whom the address information is being requested. Includedin the request is at least a piece of personally identifiableinformation 244 of the addressee, such personally identifiableinformation 244 can include a phone number, name, username, emailaddress and/or other information/identification associated with theaddressee. This information can be parsed/extracted from the request andused to retrieve the address information of the addressee.

Additional information can also be included in the request, such as anidentification of the requester, a location of the requester, anidentification of the device through which the request was submitted, atime of the request and/or other information regarding the submittedrequest. In an example, the request can also include an indicationwhether a contacts list of the requester includes a contact having thepersonally identifiable information 244 of the addressee that the useris submitting with the request. This verification of the contactrelationship between the requester and addressee can also include anindication of the length of time the contact has been included in therequester's contact list, the date of creation of the contact within therequester's contact list, whether the contact is listed or hascharacteristics of being a personal contact compared to a businesscontact, and the like Such verification can assist with determining thevalidity/legitimacy of the request and assist with preventingabuse/fraud of the address retrieval system 200.

The query module 220 can generate a query for the requested addressinformation based on the received request. The query can be used by thenetwork node 240 to retrieve the requested address information and caninclude instructions/controls for release of the address informationbased on a privacy policy of the privacy module 230. Included in thequery can be a destination(s) to which the address information will betransmitted, such as back to the requester and/or to another party. Thequery can also include permissions, formatting and/or instructions toallow the request to be transmitted to another network 222 that containsor has access to the address information of the addressee. In anexample, the requester can access the address retrieval system 200through their own cellular carrier network; however, the requestedaddress information may be for an addressee that is on another cellularcarrier network. As such, the requester's cellular network may notcontain/have access to the address information of the addressee, such asto a user profile of the addressee that contains a physical address ofthe addressee. The query module 220 can include cross-network 222capabilities and can structure or include in the query the necessaryelements/features to allow the query to be received and processed by theaddressee's carrier network so that the request may be completed.

The privacy module 230 can store, apply/implement and/or manage one ormore privacy policies 232 a-232 n, with one or more of the privacypolicies 232 a-232 n being associated with the addressee or user of theaddress retrieval system 200. The privacy module 230 can apply/implementa privacy policy 232 a-232 n at one or more points/times during theprocess of address retrieval. The privacy policies 232 a-232 n areconfigurable by a user, such as a member/subscriber of the network towhich the address retrieval system 200 belongs and/or can access. Theuser can establish/configure various rules/permissions regarding therelease of their address information. These rules/permissions can setlimitations regarding the release of the address information, such aspreventing the release of any information, requiring a permission of theuser before releasing the information, allowing the release ofinformation, establishing one or more parties to which the informationcan be released and/or other rules, procedures and/or policiesoutlining/defining how the user's address information can bereleased/transmitted by the address retrieval system 200.

An initial/default privacy policy can be globally implemented for alladdressees, such as an automatic denial of the address request orpreventing the address information of the addressee to be supplied. Thisinitial/default privacy policy can remain until a user takes the activestep of modifying/configuring the privacy policy(s) associated withthemselves. In this manner, address information for users/addressees isprevented from being provided/shared as a default, which maintains themaximum privacy available to the user/addressee without them having toset up or configure a privacy policy.

Additionally, a user may have one or more associated addresses in thenetwork node 240, and/or other networks, and the address retrievalsystem 200 can allow the user to configure their privacy policy torelease one or more of the available addresses and/or configure aprivacy policy associated with the each of the available addresses. Inthis manner, the user can configure rules/permissions that manage therelease of one or more of their addresses. For example, a user can havea work address and a home address available for retrieval by the addressretrieval system 200. The user can configure a privacy policy, or apolicy associated with each/one or more of their addresses, to releaseone or the other, or both, addresses based on the request, such as basedon the personally identifiable information supplied in the requestand/or other information included in, and/or associated with, therequest. In the example, the user can configure their privacy policy tosupply their work address when the request includes their work phonenumber as the piece of personally identifiable information 244 and tosupply their home address when the request includes their home phonenumber as the piece of personally identifiable information 244. Inanother example, the user could set a privacy policy in which the user'swork address is transmitted when either of the user's personal orbusiness telephone numbers are included in the request. A user's privacypolicy could restrict access to one or the other of the user's personalor business address, depending on the user's preferences.

Additionally, the user can also configure multiple privacy policy orsubsets/tiers of their privacy policy, such as based on the personallyidentifiable information 244 provided in the request. For example, theuser's privacy policy(s) can include requirements that if certain, or aparticular combination of, personally identifiable information 244 issupplied in the request, then apply a first privacy policy or a firstsubset of a privacy policy and if another/different type of personallyidentifiable information 244, or combination thereof, is supplied, thenapply a second privacy policy or a second subset of a privacy policy.Allowing a user to structure/configure their privacy policy(s) in thismanner can allow them to give permission/set restrictions on the releaseof their address information based on the information supplied in therequest. In an example, a user may give out or have public a phonenumber associated with their work and can configure their privacy policyto deny/prevent the release of their address information when therequest includes their work phone number. That same user can also have ahome phone number that is less well-known so they may feel comfortablewith allowing their address information to be provided only to peoplewho include the user's home phone number in the request or who arelisted as a personal contact in the user's device.

The privacy module 230 can retrieve and/or apply a user's privacy policyprior to retrieval of the address information, prior to transmitting theretrieved address information and/or at another time/point during theaddress retrieval process. In an example, to apply a privacy policyprior to the retrieval of the address information, the user's privacypolicy can include one or more elements of personally identifiableinformation 244 associated with the user. The personally identifiableinformation 244 of the submitted request can be used to identify, locateand/or retrieve a privacy policy based on a correlation, or match,between the personally identifiable information 244 of the request andthe personally identifiable information 244 associated with a privacypolicy. The privacy module 230 can then apply the appropriate privacypolicy to the query, such as denying the query to be used to retrieveaddress information due to a violation of the privacy policy,limiting/modifying the recipients of the address information onceretrieved, other modifications/limitations of the query, allow the queryto proceed with no modifications and/or request permission of theaddressee to allow release of their address information.

In another example, the privacy module 230 can apply/implement a user'sprivacy policy after the user's address information has been retrieved.The retrieved address information, or other information regarding theaddressee, retrieved or supplied as part of the request, can be used bythe privacy module 230 to locate and/or retrieve a privacy policyassociated with the addressee. The privacy module 230 can thenapply/implement the privacy policy of the addressee, such as verifyingthe recipient(s) of the address information comply with the privacypolicy, modifying the recipients or the retrieved address informationbased on the privacy policy, confirming or denying the release of theretrieved address information, request permission of the addressee priorto releasing the retrieved address information and/or other handling ofthe retrieved address information.

As part of the privacy policy, or by default in the absence of auser-instructed privacy policy, the privacy module 230 can cause anotification to be sent to the addressee—the user whose addressinformation was retrieved—requesting the addressee's permission torelease their address information. The notification can be transmittedto a device, such as a mobile phone, or communication platform, such asemail, that is associated with the addressee. The addressee can view thenotification, which can include information regarding the requester,such as their name, location, a photo, a social media identificationassociated with the requester and/or other information regarding therequester. This information regarding the requester can be supplied bythe requesting user, retrieved from a database correlating the requesterand information regarding the requester, from the network node 240 orother network/network location and/or from other sources accessible byor capable of providing input to the address retrieval system 200. Suchinformation regarding the requester can assist the addressee inevaluating whether to release their address information to the requesteror to another recipient designated by the requester, such as a thirdparty. The notification can include a means for the addressee to providetheir permission, such as an icon/link to select or a response toprovide, to allow or not allow their address information to be released.In an example, the notification can be received by the addressee as atext message or notification on their cell phone. The addressee can thenview information about the request in the notification, which can alsoinclude selectable links to view further information of the requestersuch as a social media profile of the requester, and can provide theirpermission by interacting with/responding to the notification. Once theaddressee indicates/confirms their permission to release the addressinformation, the privacy module can allow the retrieved addressinformation to be released to the recipients designated in the request.

As part of the notification, the addressee can also be presented anopportunity to verify and/or edit the retrieved address information. Inthis manner, the addressee can provide a more suitable/preferred addressfor the recipient to send an item to and/or correct errors in theretrieved address information. If the addressee modifies the retrievedaddress information, they can also be queried if they would like theaddress information accessible to the address retrieval system 200 to beupdated to include the modified, or new, address information. In theexample of a cell phone network having the address retrieval system 200,confirmation by the addressee to update their address information cancause that modification/edit to be populated to their subscriberinformation associated with the cell phone carrier/network, such asupdating a billing or home address associated with the addressee.

The notification can also include contact information for the requesterand/or a selectable means of establishing a communication session withthe requester. This can allow the addressee to contact and/orcommunicate with the requester, such as through a phone call, textmessage or chat session. The addressee can use the session to acquirefurther information from the requester, verify the requester and/orotherwise communicate with the requester prior to providing or denyingpermission for the retrieved, or requested, address information to bereleased to the recipient(s) of the request.

The network node 240 can include subscriber information 242, such aspersonally identifiable information 244 and physical addresses 246. Thesubscriber information 242 can be information regarding users of thenetwork, such as user's whose addresses may be requested, i.e. potentialaddressees, and users who may use the address retrieval system 200 torequest address information, i.e. potential requesters, the addresseeand requester nature of the users being interchangeable depending ontheir use/interaction with the address retrieval system 200 at a giventime. The network node 240 can be a specific node, or network of nodes,on/connected to a network, such as a cellular phone network, andstoring, containing or having access to the subscriber information 242.Alternatively, the network node 240 can be a subscriber database, orportion thereof, that is within/accessible to the address retrievalsystem 200. In an example, such as in a cellphone network, the networknode 240 can be a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) on the network. Thenetwork node 240 can contain various information of each subscriber,such as their physical address 246 and a phone number 244, and/or can bea subscriber database, or portion thereof, containing similarinformation.

The query from the query module 220 can be transmitted to the networknode to retrieve the requested physical address 246, using thepersonally identifiable information 244 contained in the request. Thepersonally identifiable information 244 can be/function as an index toallow the associated physical address 246 of the addressee to beretrieved. Example personally identifiable information 244 can include aphone number, a name, an email address, a social media username, and/orother information substantially unique to the user associated with suchinformation.

The physical address information 246 of the various users can beencrypted and/or protected to prevent unwanted/unauthorized access of/tothe information. Additionally, or alternatively, the physical addressinformation 246 can be stored so that it is not directly associated witha user; rather the information 246 can be associated with arepresentation of user, such as a randomly generated string ofcharacters. The representation of the user can also be associated withthe personally identifiable information 244 of the user, allowing thepersonally identifiable information 244 and physical address 246 of theuser to be correlated without directly correlating or specifying a userwith some or all of the information. Other data management and securitytechniques, implementations, systems and/or methods can be used tomaintain the security/integrity of the subscriber information 242 and/orprevent/limit access to such information by unauthorized parties.

Address routing 250 can be used to provide the retrieved addressinformation to a recipient other than the requester, such as a thirdparty. Based on the request and/or privacy policy, the requester may ormay not receive the retrieved address information. Instead, the addressinformation can be indicated for transmission/provided to another party.Example third parties can include merchants, shipping services and/orother parties engaged by the requester to send a physical item to anaddress, or otherwise obtain the address of an addressee.

In another example, the address routing 250 can includetransmitting/providing the retrieved address information to a device orother location. For example, the requester and/or privacy policy cancause the retrieved address information to be provided to a printer. Theprinter can then print a label containing the retrieved addressinformation, which can then be used by the requester to properly addressa package to the addressee.

In an embodiment, certain address information can be redacted from theprinted address label, so that the addressee informationaccessible/viewable by the requester is limited. For example, theaddress information can be provided to the printer as a file that doesnot actually print the physical address, or a portion(s) thereof, on theaddress label. Rather, the physical address can be represented as abarcode or other visual indicia that are interpretable by a deliveryservice. In this manner, the address label contains the retrievedaddress information in a form that allows the package to be properlydelivered; however, the physical address information is obscured frominterpretation by a person, such as the requester, viewing the label.The obfuscation of information on the address label can be a defaultsetting and/or a configurable setting, such as by a user in theirprivacy policy. This obfuscation can assist a user in preventing othersfrom receiving their address information while providing the requisiteinformation to allow a package, or other delivery, to be requested/sentby a requester to the addressee.

FIG. 3 is an example method 300 of address retrieval using an addressretrieval system, such as 200 of FIG. 2. At 302, a request for aphysical address is received. The request includes at least a piece ofpersonally identifiable information associated with a user, anaddressee, for which the request is seeking physical addressinformation. The request can also include information regarding theparty/user (e.g., a requester) requesting the physical addressinformation. At 304, a network node is queried for the physical address.The query includes the personally identifiable information of therequest and is used to locate/retrieve the physical address informationof the addressee. At 306, the physical address is acquired and at 308 aprivacy policy is implemented/applied. As discussed above, the privacypolicy can limit/restrict the retrieved address information and/ordissemination thereof. Various rules and/or permissions regarding therelease of their address information can be configured by a user andstored/implemented as a privacy policy. The privacy policy associatedwith the acquired physical address is applied to determine if theinformation can be released and if any restrictions need to be appliedto the release of the information, such as limiting the recipients ofthe information.

At 310, optionally, permission from an addressee can be received toallow the physical address information to be supplied to one or morerecipients, such as the requester and/or a third party. A request forpermission can be communicated to the addressee, such as a notificationon their user device, and the addressee can view details of the request,edit/modify the retrieved address information and/or provide permissionor deny permission for their address information to beprovided/transmitted to the recipients. At 312 and 314, the physicaladdress information can be transmitted to the requester and/or a thirdparty. Transmission of the physical address to one or more recipientscan be based on the request received at 302, the privacy policyimplemented at 308 and/or, optionally, the addressee permission receivedat 310. In the method 300, there are various checks to allow users tolimit the release of their address information due to the personalnature and/or security concerns associated with the dissemination ofsuch information. These checks are implemented at multiple points toassist in limiting errors that can cause information to be released inan unwanted and/or unauthorized manner.

FIG. 4 is an example method 400 of permitting an address retrieval by auser, such as an addressee. At 402, a user can optionally configure aprivacy policy for their address information, such as their addressinformation associated with/accessible by an address retrieval system,such as 200 of FIG. 2. The user can be provided multiple tools, options,configurations and/or choices to create/manage permissions/rulesgoverning the release of their address information. As discussed above,the user can have one or more privacy policies associated with one ormore addresses and/or one or more pieces of personally identifiableinformation associated with the user. Additionally, or alternatively,the user's privacy policy can be tiered based on various criteria, suchas the personally identifiable information included in the request, andthe release of the user's physical address information, forms and/orportions thereof, can be associated with one or more of the tiersoutlined/defined in the privacy policy.

At 404, the user can receive a notification of an address request. Thenotification can include various information, such as informationregarding the requester, information supplied in the request, anindication of an item being shipped to the addressee and/or otherinformation regarding the request. The identification of the requestercan indicate if the request is from another user or a third party, suchas a shipping service or merchant. Such an indication can provide theaddressee insight and help them make a decision regarding the release oftheir address information. At 406, the addressee can be presented anopportunity to modify the retrieved address information. For example,the addressee can correct errors in the retrieved address information orprovide a different physical address, such as a commercial deliverylocation. If the user edits the retrieved address information, they canbe asked if they would like to have the edit applied to the source fromwhich their address information was retrieved. In this manner, the usercan request their address information be updated, such as updating abilling address. Additionally, the notification can include informationregarding the recipients of the address information and the addresseecan be offered an opportunity to edit/modify the recipients, such asremoving one or more recipients from those who will receive the addressinformation of the addressee.

At 408, optionally, the addressee can open a communication session withthe requester. The communication session can include verbal, visualand/or textual communication. This can allow the addressee to acquireadditional information regarding the requester and/or their purpose ofthe request. At 410, the addressee can provide their permission to allowtheir address information to be transmitted to one or more recipients,such as the requester or a third party. In an example, the notificationreceived by the addressee at 404 can include an input, such as aselectable icon, that the addressee can interact with to provide theirpermission to allow their address information to be transmitted to oneor more recipients.

FIG. 5 is an example method 500 of requesting an address, such as by arequester interacting with an address retrieval system. At 502, a user,the requester, can request an address based on personally identifiableinformation they provide. In an example, the user can interact with anapplication or portal, such as a webpage, on/with a user device toperform/prepare the request. The user needs to provide personallyidentifiable information associated with the person, addressee, they areseeking the address of. Such information can include a phone number,email address, social media username, and/or other information regardingthe addressee.

At 504, the requester can optionally open a communication session withthe addressee. The requester can initiate the communication sessions toprovide identification and/or verification to the addressee, such astheir intentions/cause for the request for the addressee's addressinformation. At 506 and 508, the address information can be received bythe requester and/or by a third party. Reception of the addressinformation can be based on one or more factors, such as a recipientcontained within the request and/or a privacy policy thatmanages/governs the release of the addressee's address information.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the followingclaims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific formsor in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or amethod or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate,may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be used forrealizing the invention in diverse forms thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An address retrieval system, comprising: aprocessor comprising: a request module configured to receive a requestfor a physical address of an addressee, the request including a piece ofpersonally identifiable information associated with the addressee, aquery module configured to generate a query based on the request, and inresponse to the query, a privacy module configured to: retrieve aprivacy policy from a user device of the addressee, the privacy policybeing configurable by the addressee and having one or more permissionsrelated to allowing or limiting transmission of the physical address ofthe addressee, and apply the privacy policy to at least one of the queryor a transmission of the physical address of the addressee transmittedin response to the query; and a storage device including addresseeinformation, the addressee information including a physicaladdress-personally identifiable information correlation, the storagedevice configured to receive the query and to allow transmission of orlimit transmission of the physical address associated with thepersonally identifiable information of the query based on the appliedprivacy policy, wherein the privacy policy causes the address retrievalsystem to communicate with a user device of the addressee, thecommunication determining if a requestor is a contact of the user deviceof the addressee.
 2. The address retrieval system of claim 1, whereinthe privacy module is further configured to cause a notification of therequest to be sent to the addressee.
 3. The address retrieval system ofclaim 2, wherein the notification includes a selectable input that, whenselected, communicates a permission to the privacy module to allow thetransmission of the physical address information of the addressee. 4.The address retrieval system of claim 1, wherein the privacy policycauses the address retrieval system to transmit the physical address toa party other than the requester.
 5. The address retrieval system ofclaim 1, wherein the physical address is transmitted to a party otherthan the requester requesting the physical address of the addressee. 6.The address retrieval system of claim 1, wherein the storage device ison or in communication with a first network and does not include thephysical address of the addressee, and wherein the query includes atleast one of a permission or encoding configured to allow the query tobe provided to a second network having the physical address of theaddressee and to cause the physical address of the addressee to be oneof transmitted by or retrieved from the second network.
 7. The addressretrieval system of claim 1, wherein the storage device is a networknode, the network node being a Home Subscriber Server (HSS).
 8. Theaddress retrieval system of claim 1, wherein the privacy policy is oneof a plurality of privacy policies, and wherein the storage devicefurther comprises a privacy policy database configured to store theplurality of privacy policies, and wherein the privacy policy isconfigured to be retrieved from the plurality of privacy policies basedon at least one of the request or query.
 9. The address retrieval systemof claim 1, wherein the privacy policy is one of a plurality of privacypolicies and the privacy policy is configured to be retrieved from theplurality of privacy policies based at least on one of the request orthe query.
 10. The address retrieval system of claim 1, wherein theaddressee is a subscriber of a service provider network including theprocessor and the storage device.
 11. A method of address retrieval,comprising: receiving a request for a physical address of an addressee,the request including personally identifiable information associatedwith the addressee; querying a storage device for the physical addressof the addressee based on the personally identifiable information of therequest; acquiring, from the storage device, the physical address; andin response to one or both of acquiring the physical address thequerying the network node for the physical address: retrieving a privacypolicy from a user device of the addressee, the privacy policy beingconfigurable by the addressee and having one or more permissions relatedto allowing or limiting transmission of the physical address of theaddressee, and applying the privacy policy to one of the acquiredphysical address or the query, the privacy policy configured to at leastone of allow, limit, or deny a transmission of the physical address,wherein the privacy policy causes an address retrieval system tocommunicate with a user device of a requester or the user device of theaddressee, the communication determining if the requester or theaddressee is a contact of the user device of the other party.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising transmitting a notification ofthe request to the addressee based on the privacy policy.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein the notification is transmitted based on theretrieval of the privacy policy and prior to the applying the privacypolicy.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the notification includes aselectable confirmation configured to allow the transmission of thephysical address, and wherein the one or both of the transmitting orlimiting the transmission of, respectively, the physical address occursin response to the receiving the selectable confirmation to allowtransmission of the physical address.
 15. The method of claim 12,wherein the notification includes an ability to establish acommunication session between a first user device of the addressee and asecond user device of a requester that supplied the request, thecommunication session configured to allow the addressee and therequester to communicate.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein thenotification includes the acquired physical address, and furthercomprising allowing the addressee to modify the acquired physicaladdress before the physical address is transmitted.
 17. The method ofclaim 11, wherein transmitting the physical address includestransmitting the physical address to a user device associated with therequester.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the physicaladdress includes transmitting the physical address to a third partybased at least on one of the request or the privacy policy.
 19. Anaddress retrieval system, comprising: a processor comprising: a requestmodule configured to receive a request for a physical address of anaddressee, the request including at least a piece of personallyidentifiable information associated with the addressee, a query moduleconfigured to generate a query based on the request, and in response tothe query, a privacy module configured to: retrieve a privacy policyfrom a user device of the addressee, the privacy policy beingconfigurable by the addressee and having one or more permissions relatedto allowing or limiting transmission of the physical address of theaddressee, and apply the privacy policy to at least one of the query ora transmission of the physical address of the addressee transmitted inresponse to the query; and a storage device including addresseeinformation, the addressee information including a physicaladdress-personally identifiable information correlation, the storagedevice configured to receive the query and to allow transmission of orlimit transmission of the physical address associated with thepersonally identifiable information of the query based on the appliedprivacy policy, wherein the privacy policy causes the address retrievalsystem to communicate with a user device of a requester or the userdevice of the addressee, the communication determining if the requesteror the addressee is a contact of the user device of the other party. 20.The address retrieval system of claim 19, wherein the privacy module isfurther configured to cause a notification of the request to be sent tothe addressee, and wherein the notification includes a selectable inputthat, when selected, communicates a permission to the privacy module toallow the transmission of the physical address information of theaddressee.
 21. The address retrieval system of claim 19, wherein theprivacy policy causes the address retrieval system to transmit thephysical address to the party other than the requester.